When the Philadelphia Union, like the rest of the league, took a mandatory five-day break from training activities earlier this month in accordance with the MLS collective bargaining agreement, many players and staff took brief vacations or otherwise unplugged after a hectic early-summer schedule.
Bradley Carnell went back to St. Louis.
It might seem strange to visit the city where he was dismissed by his previous employers, St. Louis CITY SC, almost exactly one year ago. But it’s still home for him, his wife Claudia and their two children in fundamental ways, despite his current gig being located some 900 miles east.
Carnell’s younger daughter Kiera is a high-school senior; her older sister Caitlyn goes to college one state over at the University of Kansas. When Bradley’s career path took a couple of unexpected turns last year, the family decided that their stability would be prioritized above all.
“I've managed to drag my kids around three different continents, three different countries, three different cultures, languages,” Philly’s head coach explained to MLSsoccer.com in a one-on-one conversation ahead of their Sunday Night Soccer presented by Continental Tire trip to the Columbus Crew (6 pm ET | MLS Season Pass, Apple TV+).
“They were born in Germany, grew up in South Africa, then moved here when they were 8 and 12, respectively. So I've treated my wife terribly over the last how many years of our togetherness – of 22, 23 years, because it's all about me and my career.
“So at this point, I was like, it's enough. We need a home. We need a base.”
Fresh start in Philly
The Carnells' decision reflects both the intensity of the expansion launch experience with STL, where they dived headlong into the work of building a new organization that reflected its region’s culture and spirit, and the enthusiasm with which he’s attacked his new project.
“I connected with the city, I connected with the people. And from day one, it just felt right in St. Louis,” he said. “And I go home, hold up my head, people say hi. It's great, going back and yeah, just being part of the community. I do understand it's a profession, and I do understand it's a professional environment, and I do understand that I too will find comfort and a home here in Philadelphia one day.
“But right now, just based on my kids, we chose for the short-term future to go this route.”
While long-distance relationships are never simple, it’s at least somewhat easier to endure with Bradley’s current side sitting four points clear atop the MLS Supporters’ Shield standings. Philly are the only team in the league averaging more than two points per game – despite the third-lowest total salary spend, per documents released this week by the MLS Players Association.
“I was really excited about this job. I mean, there's many scenarios where I could have enjoyed the next year of my life being around family, in the comfort of my home and everything like this,” said the South African. “But when something comes along and just feels right, you get excited about it.
“I think everyone has seen the version of what can be if there's a full alignment with what we're doing. There's something tangible,” he added, referring to the extensive conversations with sporting director Ernst Tanner and Union ownership which drew him to the west bank of the Delaware River. “We've created something, and hopefully we can keep that momentum going.”
Surpassing expectations
Few expected this from a Union side widely prognosticated for a rebuilding year after the Jim Curtin era sputtered to a close with failure to qualify for the Audi 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs for the first time in seven years. And it’s been engineered in a collective manner befitting Philly’s blue-collar, academy-driven ethos.
Israeli striker Tai Baribo’s 13 goals have kept him at or near the top of the Golden Boot presented by Audi race despite missing time due to injury and international duty. Kai Wagner and Quinn Sullivan rank among the league’s elite in both assists and key passes, the latter earning a US men’s national team call for the Concacaf Gold Cup, one of Philly’s whopping nine international call-ups this month, tied for second-most in MLS. Newer faces like Danley Jean Jacques and rising homegrown Frankie Westfield have been massive contributors.
Like Tanner, Carnell is an alumnus of the Red Bull global network, a disciple of the high-pressing, high-intensity principles it brought to such prominence. Recalling Jurgen Klopp’s famous adage that “no playmaker in the world can be as good as a good gegenpressing situation,” Carnell points to the broad distribution of productivity that was the norm for his CITY SC teams, as well as the New York Red Bulls sides where he worked as an assistant under Jesse Marsch and Chris Armas.
Notably, Philly have ridden timely goals from the likes of Wagner, Nathan Harriel and Markus Anderson in recent shorthanded wins. The great Real Salt Lake teams of old made ‘the team is the star’ their catchphrase; the Union’s equivalent might be ‘the system is the star.’
“It's not by strength of 11 players. It's by strength in depth,” said Carnell. “People coming in in January were questioning our depth, and now people are saying, ‘you guys have a real deep roster.’ It's like, how does that happen? Do the elves just come overnight and just sprinkle some dust and all of a sudden players are now deep? And that's great – we can use everybody. The players have been willing and committed to everything that we've thrown at them.
“The way we work and the style we play it, I think if everyone buys into those principles, everyone gets rewarded down the line.”
Carnell points to Anderson, an under-the-radar American attacker Philly brought home from the Spanish lower divisions before last season, as an example of the mindset he’s cultivating.
“We sent him to [MLS NEXT Pro side] Union II for two, three months, because he just couldn't go a game without getting an injury. And they weren't bad injuries – it was a contusion or something, and then he would be out for a day or two, and then back in for a day or two, and then out,” he recalled. “We were like, ‘man, you just need to go get some rhythm.’ And he gets his rhythm, he commits to the process, and we start using him.”
Replacing a legend
That’s just the kind of story Philly want to create, with their single-minded focus on player development and identification of undervalued assets both at home and abroad.
“Our identity is pretty clear, and we are totally aligned,” Tanner told MLSsoccer.com earlier this year. “And that's the reason why I brought in Bradley.”
A charismatic local who led the Union to their first major hardware and coached more than 400 matches across an 11-year managerial run, Curtin left big shoes to fill. Yet in that sense, Carnell’s task was simplified by the resolve in the squad he inherited, “focused and energized” after last year’s difficulties.
“The players are taking this personally, and almost, I wouldn't say the chip on the shoulders – I think they're a confident bunch, like, ‘give me that information. I can see it works for me. I'm going to do it,’” he explained to MLSsoccer.com back in March. “They acknowledge that last year was a s----y season, excuse my language.
“They definitely, one, want to correct that. And they feel at home with the new tactics, with the new messaging, with the way we present, the way we make the players feel valued, the way we speak to the players,” he continued. “Now it's my job to keep maintaining that standard.”
Redemption story
Carnell goes to great pains to emphasize that collectivist mentality, and prefers not to center his own influence or experience. There’s still no avoiding the shadow of the fallout from his St. Louis departure. Even with the Ravioli Boyz nine points out of the playoff places and riding a nine-game winless skid, the parting of ways with CITY sporting director Lutz Pfannenstiel felt abrupt to some observers, considering Carnell’s role in STL topping the Western Conference table in their euphoric inaugural campaign in 2023.
“As a coach, I know I'm a young or, just a couple of years under the belt now, but I'm also ambitious. And I also have a little thing on my back saying, ‘hey, you failed at St. Louis,’” said Carnell in March. “I carry that always. Because we invested so much in St. Louis just to get it up and running, and it kind of just petered out. And I took that little bit personally. So I'm full of fire, full of ambition in this opportunity now as well.
“Part of it is not proving people wrong. It's proving me right – that I believe I'm on the right track as a coach.”
The raw emotions of last year’s difficulties bubbled into public view after Philly’s 1-0 win over CITY SC at Subaru Park in March, where Carnell and STL striker João Klauss had to be separated as they exchanged angry words at full time.
Carnell says he looks back with neither anger nor regret, though he hints at some lessons learned when it comes to the intricacies of interpersonal and organizational communication.
“I feel I have grown a lot, but I've also reassured my pathway, and I've also reassured that, myself as a coach, the alignment, my connection with players, my connection with people, my connection with staff, the approach that I try and go about my work, should not be changed,” he said.
“Maybe I went down a road where I said too many things and the wrong ears heard it and misconstrued or mistook or misunderstood, then all of a sudden, things escalate,” Carnell added. “But what I believe in and how I believe players should be treated, and how I believe to build culture and things like this? It was not a reflection time. It was a time of reassurance for me.”
MLS Cup ambitions
Keeping the Union at their current lofty standing may prove every bit as difficult as getting there. From Leo Messi’s Inter Miami CF to Evander’s FC Cincinnati to the slick-passing Columbus Crew and resurgent Nashville SC, to name just a few, the East is packed with trophy contenders, most of whom spend far more freely on salaries and transfer fees than Philly. Then there’s the perennial question of how pressing teams like them maintain their style and output when midsummer heat saps energy.
Carnell is quite aware of the challenges waiting in the season’s back half, and he relishes them. His ability to evolve ‘the Philly way’ may yet steer a path to the promised land: the MLS Cup title that so cruelly eluded them at the final hurdle three years ago.
“We've been a bit more strategic with our press. I think we've been a little bit more strategic with how we implement it, I think whether it's, I don't know, maturity of my coaching style, or me finding a way – not my way at all costs, me finding a way with the player personnel that I have at the disposal,” he said.
“So it's been an enjoyable process to still uphold the values of what we're trying to do and not change the game model in any way, but just trying to manipulate the areas of the field. So I still think we haven't changed, but we have, in a way.”
